You can organise and run your sessions in a way that suits your team’s skills and preferences, but there are a few best practice recommendations to help your GOTV session run smoothly:
One board runner per road group
You can assign multiple people as board runners in Labour One, allowing several team members to view all properties, add volunteers and enter data. However, it is best to have one person act as the lead for each road group.
The board runner should:
- assign properties to volunteers
- direct the team on which doors to knock next
- keep track of progress
- start and end the road group
Having a single lead helps avoid confusion and reduces the risk of errors. This is especially important when ending a road group, as selecting 'Stop' will remove the team and apply GOTV filtering.
Open your road group and add your team before leaving the campaign centre
Prepare your session before heading out, especially if you are working in an unfamiliar area or somewhere with unreliable mobile signal.
Opening your road group in a location with strong signal or WiFi ensures that all data is loaded onto your device in advance. This reduces the risk of losing access while out knocking.
Take a photo of the cover sheet (QR code)
This is a useful backup in case you need to rejoin a road group.
You should avoid ending a road group until you have finished knocking. If you are removed by mistake, having access to the QR code allows you to quickly scan back in.
It is also helpful if you meet volunteers in the field, as they can join the road group on the spot using the QR code.
In some cases, you may be given a lanyard at the campaign centre that includes the cover sheet.
Use 'Do Not Return (This Election Only)' to hide a property for the current session
If you do not want to return to a property later in your session, mark the household as 'Do Not Return (This Election Only)'.
Before doing this, make sure you record any relevant information for individuals. For example, if a voter is deceased or expresses opposition, this should be marked on their individual record first. You can then decide whether it is appropriate to return to the property as a whole.
Use 'Do Not Return (This Election Only)' when:
- you have already spoken to one person in the household but not everyone, and no further follow-up is needed today
- it would be inappropriate to return, for example if you have been informed a resident is deceased
- the household contains voters you would not engage with again during this session
- the household has asked not to be knocked again during this session
In some cases, a property may have multiple residents and you may not have collected data for everyone. You can still choose to hide the entire household if returning would not be appropriate based on the information you have gathered.
To do this:
- open the property preview
- select 'More options'
- choose 'Do Not Return (This Election Only)'
This removes the household from your current session so it does not appear again later in the day. It does not mark the household as 'Do Not Contact' in Contact Creator, so this is only a temporary change for your current GOTV session.
Use 'Not In' if you are unsure about access
If you are unsure whether a property is accessible, mark it as 'Not In' rather than 'Inaccessible'.
Marking a property as 'Inaccessible' will remove it from the session after the road group ends. However, some properties may only be temporarily inaccessible, for example:
- an intercom was not answered
- a gate was locked
These properties may become accessible later in the day, so using 'Not In' allows another attempt to be made.
Only use 'Inaccessible' when a property is clearly and permanently inaccessible.